(Dulles, VA) â€“ Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) announced today that it has been selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to demonstrate a new space transportation system for delivering cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). In a three-year, $320 million cooperative program, NASA will invest $170 million and Orbital will contribute $150 million (including its planned Taurus II launch vehicle development investment) in the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) project. In its first phase, the COTS project will involve the development and flight demonstration of a commercial cargo delivery system to low Earth orbit with the potential to support ISS operations following the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2010. This system will consist of a new advanced maneuvering spacecraft called Cygnus, along with several interchangeable modules for pressurized and unpressurized cargo, and will be launched on Orbitalâ€™s new Taurus II medium-lift rocket.

The COTS project is strategically important to both NASA and Orbital,â€

On the other hand, I think that RpK guys will do just fine on their own. They had their vehicle 75% complete in the early 2000s, they will still have the same in the early 2010s. That may be actually their business plan. Not to catch a rabbit, but to chase it.